She's finally here and ready for shipping! The Jillian Tunic pattern by my sister company, Blessed Designs was designed for American Hand Smocking and cut for maternity. After hearing the demands of my customers, I added a non-maternity cut and 2 options for machine smocking. The results are beautiful and easy to wear. You can order this pattern at a discount through the end of March. To order visit: www.blesseddesigns.net/store It is a full size pattern printed on heavy white paper. All sizes from XS to XXL are printed in one pattern.
You may recognize my model as the beautiful Kelly Marshall, the owner of Designs by KM which was featured in an earlier post. She is four months pregnant in these photos.
The first photos show the maternity cut sewn with a machine shirring technique and is made from a Heather Bailey print in blue ice from her Bijoux line.
This set of photos is made from pink dotted cotton and sewn with faux machine smocking.
The slightly puffed sleeves feature 3 delicate pleats that echo the design of the back.
The next few photos show a Jillian tunic sewn from vintage dotted swiss that was handsmocked in Aqua using the American smocking technique. Instructions for all 3 smocking techniques shown here are included in the pattern.
Very pretty!
I really love this! I love all the detail. This might be a stupid question, but do you need a special machine to do smocking?
Ruth,
American smocking can be done by hand without a machine at all (or any prepleating either) and the machine smocking can be done on any basic machine. If you choose the shirring method, you will need elastic thread and the non-elastic method just needs a cute decorative built in stitch.
This top is so pretty, I’m working on a non-maternity one for this summer, but with a newborn time to sew is very limited.